After Summer's End
by BinaryCode101
Summary: Finally a new good story I'll commit to, but still not lifting the hiatus notice on any of the other stories unless someone wants to give me ideas. The story of the eyes looking at the past. T, contains light violence warning, suicide, murder, and a horrible attempt to write heartbreaking scenes. New chapter every month.
1. Kano Shuuya

I sit yet again in the small apartment labeled 107 just outside. Part of me is relieved that the Dan have split up, but many others scream at me that I had needed it, it had kept me from being lonely, we need to go get Danchou and Seto and-

I stop going back to that train of thought. My eyes burn slightly and just from the mirror in sight I can tell I've been using my eye powers. My golden brown catlike eyes are burning crimson, and I bring down the mask again, revealing my worn-out sleepless face.

I groan, apathy briefly taking over. So this is what Shintaro-kun felt like for two years. The story in my head suddenly rewinds, and I find myself muttering. "I'll tell a story for you. It all began 10 years ago..."

She comes in drunk through the door, yet again ranting about how I, Kano Shuuya, had ended up killing Dad.

I hide just under the cot, our home smelling of just a bit of alcohol as well as cigarettes and smoke. There are faint blood stains in the room; still mine. Mom always came back to abuse me over and over again.

I don't think it makes her feel better but I let her do it anyways.

I quiver slightly as her footsteps hit the floor heavily, then continue into the room just beyond mine, where faint sobbing can be heard.

I just decide to sneak back to the small orphanage, with my cuts in plain sight. This one caretaker always takes pity on me and allows me to stay the night most of the time. Those are the nights I actually enjoy. Night tends to be more peaceful for me than for other people.

Anyways, on those nights, I meet up with two other kids, Kido and Seto, and we just end up having fun way past the bedtimes assigned. I can still remember one moment where the three of us were watching fireflies...

The childish me is interrupted when the caretaker refuses. She pushes me away, and I look up startled, the tears on the edges of my eyes threatening to spill over.

She says no one more time before threatening a beating, and I get a safe distance away from her arms before rubbing my eyes. It's not the friendly caretaker; instead it's the mean old head caretaker with a long wooden cane in one hand.

Sobbing, I run down the street and seconds later muffle my sobbing. I have to lie about this. About everything.

No one can know about my abused life.

"Ah, that was when I started lying yet again. Oh, but wait!

"Didn't you forget? I'm a liar..." My voice trails off as the memories start coming back. "And sometimes I lie to myself..."

She comes in drunk again, but this time there's a greyish black object in her hand. I almost make it up the stairs before a loud shot echoes in my ear and suddenly pain lashes out from my right calf, the blood and the bullet on the floor.

I scream and clutch my leg, just barely on the stairs. I could climb, escape this monster that is not my mother-

Someone is behind her and suddenly I see the gun wrenched away, the stranger pulling the trigger. The monster, no, now she's my mother, falls to the floor. Bits of bone, blood, internal organs, and just the faintest glimpse of metal are scattered around the floor, and I find myself screaming for Dad, Mom, anyone to save me.

The stranger smiles, before pulling out a long silver knife. The blade is razor-sharp, just like Mother's tongue or her pocketknife of torture.

I feel like I've nearly bitten my tongue in two as he draws it across my arm, scarlet blood tracing downwards. Blood fills my mouth and flows down my arm and leg. My feelings are caught between about to fake happiness or complete and utter sadness.

I feel the blackness at the edges of my vision slowly grow bigger, and the comfort of maybe just being able to fall asleep growing. The stranger continues wounding me for almost a full minute.

The cold barrel of the gun rests against my forehead. My sobs grow quieter. The man looks just a bit closer and more shadowy than before. Then everything in my head spirals outwards into nothing as he pulls the trigger.

"Alright, Ayano's your big sister now, okay?" Ayaka-chan pats us on the back encouragingly. The band-aid on Kido's cheek and the cold pack on Seto's forehead stand out. Us three would always stand out.

We're facing Ayano-chan, a girl with brown hair much like her mother's and huge brown eyes. I don't look at her because I have my powers on, and I've done it out of reflex.

Ayano-chan tries to get us to play with her, talk with her. But we stay silent. She's probably pitying us.

And yet...

The next day, she's come with a red muffler. Seto's eyes widen.

Ayano-chan wraps the scarf around her neck and poses like the superhero does. We are all surprised, even me with my mask off. "If you guys are interested, we'll make our own superhero gang!"

The following weeks are the happiest of my life, at least until... let's not talk about that yet. She gives each of us a hoodie, and most of our days are spent doing "missions" and having fun. As a family.

"Ah, Kido!" My small cat eyes flicker between red and gold as our impromptu leader walks out from behind one of the trees. Behind her is a crying Seto.

"Seto-san, what happened?" My mask is always on, since the monsters called society were everywhere. His sobs are quickly quelled by the approaching rain.

"I...I heard their thoughts again." Seto nearly goes into tears again, and Kido hugs him closer, the rain just beginning to fall. "I... why were we cursed with these? They call us red-eyed demons, monsters. They hate us! They want us to die!"

At this point Seto is in a crying fit while Kido tries to calm him down and I just stand there. I'm such an idiot sometimes.

"..." Kido says no words, just holds crybaby Seto closer, keeping him warm in the freezing rain. We walk back to the orphanage in silence.

The monsters inside cause Seto to cry even harder and eventually we lock ourselves in a closet and try to calm Seto down. It barely works.

"It'll be alright." Kido's words vainly try to calm the boy down. I glare through the door crack at the other laughing kids, their voices grating against my ears and probably the others' ears too.

"Tch!" I close the door. The two with me are crying together now. But I have to stay strong for them, don't I? I have to weave my web of lies yet again as the kids clear and someone opens the closet door. I jump up and get my excuses ready-

It's a startled woman, with two red hairpins in her light brown hair and her coffee-colored eyes show surprise. "Oh!"

They're all watching me. Kido and Seto are still crying in the corner of the closet, and I feel the red eyes turning on, sending a slight pain through me. I take a breath. The mask changes.

"Those kids were bullying us! You can't blame us if something happens and we come back beaten and bloody-"

The lady shushes me. I stand there looking like an idiot with my arms raised and her hand over my mouth. The kids begin laughing again and my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Kido and Seto are sniffling now. They look at her, eyes red but Kido doesn't disappear and Seto isn't crying.

"I'm adopting you. Because you seemed to be lonely. And if you prefer to be lonely, then you can stay here." Her voice is gentle, and it calms Seto and Kido. I lower my arms, but my mask doesn't come off. She isn't allowed to see my tears yet.

"Hey, Kido!" I point towards the school building. Already a few people are gathered near the science room. "There's something interesting there! You wanna check it out?"

Kido sighs, and makes no other action than turning on her eyes and making herself invisible. I led her through the crowds and we ended up at the door. I poked my head through.

"Ah!" I retreat slightly, but the two teens inside smile and beckon me in. "Okay. It's a shooting game, though… Hey, Kido, you want to try it out?"

She appears right next to me and freaks the other player out. She's a girl with twin black pigtails. As she explains, Kido sits down and grabs the controller.

Around the last round of the game, the other girl starts getting worried. She wins barely; 100 points and Kido would've won.

"Ah, Kido-san, why'd you cheat?" It comes out a bit louder than I expected so I follow up and hope she's not embarrassed. "Ah, we should get going though."

Then, to the stall runners. "Thank you for the game. Don't worry, it'll run fine after this, I promise!" Kido looks like she's about to cry. "Ah, Kido-san, it's okay. At least you tried, right?" She doesn't answer. Instead we wait just by the entrance so we can meet up with Ayano-chan and her boyfriend again.

Danchou's dead. Those Kisaragi siblings are dead too; Shintaro-kun committed suicide, and Momo-chan fell to him.

I can hear the snakes searching for me, getting ever so closer.

Ene-chan got smashed, and even though she's not dead I'm assuming something like her can be traumatized. For a long while.

The hissing gets closer. I don't dare let out the breath I've been holding. He's whispering psychopathic things and the blood drops down.

Hibiya, that little boy, got run over by a truck from nowhere. First his girlfriend and now him. She told me this would happen, that medusa-

I hear his laughter now as he, the monster, grabs me and pulls me to the living room. Mary's already there, her red eyes covered by her hands, white hair splayed around her, and quietly sobbing while I feel the familiar gun barrel rest on my forehead.

I feel my mask drop, crying as hard as I've cried in ten or so years.

This is serious.

This is not the time to lie.

Tears stream down my face as he smiles and for a second he looks exactly like the same person who killed me all those years ago.

I see nothing yet again as the gun explodes in front of me, making me fall backwards as the monster laughs and laughs and laughs while Mary lies there crying and Seto is getting choked to death by the monster's snakes.

Kido-san shows in a young orange-ish haired girl with darker orange eyes. "Her name's Momo. She's like us."

I end up grandstanding. "Hello, and welcome to the headquarters of the Mekakushi Dan!"

"Where's the name come from?" Danchou asks.

"I made it up while you were gone!" My cheerful comment somehow gets Kido-san riled up and we end up arguing. Mary accidentally spills tea on our new member, and we have lots of fun for the remaining three hours.

Ah, family seems so wonderful, since we only have each other in a world of discrimination and bullying.

I see Shintaro-kun go down in blood as Konoha-no, the monster that was Konoha- shoots. Instead of killing himself, that monster killed Shintaro. Momo-chan is starting to cry.

The monster rips at himself and all of the medusa's snakes come out, leaving just Konoha's snake and turning him from black to white again. No one moves.

Suddenly a flash and Shintaro is standing in the doorway. He sees Konoha. Konoha sees him.

"Ah, this is so disorientating." Shintaro-Kim's voice calls the others to look at the doorway... at his crimson eyes. The snakes all look at all of us.

Konoha smiles and suddenly everything goes white-

-and goes back to normal. The medusa, Azami-san, appears hazily, almost frowning, before smiling at Mary, who's speechless, before calling all the snakes together and disappearing, making everything go white again.

When that fades, the person standing there looks vaguely like Konoha. He has brown hair, and the two connected dots, although those are black. He looks at us, lost for a moment, before Shintaro reacts just barely and Ene-chan's voice becomes unbearable from only two feet away. It's that loud.

"Haruka-kun!" Ene would've pushed out of the screen if she wasn't stuck in technology. The boy, Haruka blinks before his memory kicks in and he smiles. His time before and during Konoha seems to have been remembered.

"Um... Why is everyone staring at me?" His voice seems familiar, although I almost can't place it until I think about a shooting game long ago.

Everyone quickly explains, and in a fit of hilarity, Mary actually trips and knocks Haruka over, causing everyone to relax. It's not until everyone looks at each other that they realize something.

We're all a family, through our experiences. Losing our eye powers wouldn't ever change that. But it seems we have lost our eye powers, and even then, we'll stick together, or at least remember each other, until we die.

My memories come to a stop as the doorbell sounds. I get up slowly, putting on my mask in the meantime and closing the small journal I've written in for the past few years. The sound of rain clattering outside seems to me like that night long ago, that summer night when we had promised we'd see each other again.

I open the door, and Danchou- I can't really call her Danchou anymore, so Kido- stands just outside, the last summer day's rain soaking her from head to toe. "Kido-san, where's your umbrella?"

She doesn't reply. Instead she comes in, sitting down on the sofa and cries. I don't really react. She won't tell me what it's about and she does this quite a bit. So I sit down and let her hug me while she cries, my arms around her.

"It's okay, Danchou. You're safe here."

A half hour later, we watch the rain fall outside.


	2. Seto Kousuke

**Oh hey look I actually committed to something! Well, here's Seto's happy ending.**

**Kagerou Project belongs to Jin/Shizen no Teki-P**

**Mekakucity Actors screens on 4/12 at midnight! Support the anime!**

**-BinaryCode101-**

* * *

"I don't think we're going to get a pet dog, Seto." My white-haired fiancée says to me. We're standing outside a pet store, just out on the street.

I look at the puppies, then feel my eyes activate. They beg for a new owner.

"Are you sure?" I ask Mary. Her white hair and pink eyes mark her as a medusa, which makes the people around us give us a wide berth.

"Well, you have saved up a lot, and if we got a puppy, then we would have to save up longer to... you know..." Her voice gets all soft and kind. I hold her closer.

"Yeah, maybe another time, right?" We hold hands and walk down the streets, going to the place we both know well.

* * *

"Stop! Stop!" My screams echo off into the distance as one of the bullies- the true monsters - holds Tono's head underwater. I scream as another bully holds me by the chest, watching as my friend's body struggles to get free.

"Tch! Hold him still, we can't have him interfering, Shikoku!" The one drowning Tono yells to the one behind me. My outstretched arm is twisted into a painful angle by the third boy-who-could-not-be-a-boy.

"Nope, ya can't do that!" He grins as he snaps my arm back and I scream even louder. This bend of the river is too far away from someone who could help. Not like they'd help anyways. Shikoku gets nervous. I decide that if he wasn't being forced into doing this that he could be a friend.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this..." His complaint is drowned out by the first boy-who-could-not-be-a-boy's scream of triumph. He kicks the wet body of Tono as it floats down the stream. It begins to rain.

"Okay, let's get this dog in the water too!" The third one sound enthusiastic to hurt me, and for his sick pleasure he kicks me and take my breath.

"No, no, n-" My cries are drowned out by the invading wave of cold and misery. I can feel my hands go numb as the rest of my body thrashes like a fish above the surface.

"Ah, he's got spirit." The voice is barely heard over the sound of rushing water and the black fuzziness that wasn't there a moment ago.

My lungs feel like they're about to explode, and my unheard screams die along with my consciousness.

* * *

"Hey, Mary..." My statement rings out. It's night, and we can just see a bridge. One I know too well. "I want to know something."

"Oh? What is it, Seto-kun?" Her soft voice reassures me a little.

"Well, since we're dating, and this is just for the future, well..." I get a bit flustered as she stares at me expectantly, secretly bringing out those puppy-eyes that everyone but Momo couldn't withstand. "Ehm, does your house have... Internet connection?"

Mary just replies with "What?!" and we end up talking as we arrive at the bridge and the moonlight shines down.

* * *

"Now, everyone, be nice to Ayano. She's your new big sister, okay?" The three of us stay silent as Ayaka-chan pats us on the back encouragingly before walking off. Ayano-chan looks puzzlingly at us. Probably because of our eyes. I rub the small bruise that's forming at my cheek.

Later, Kano, Kido and I are sitting around. I walk off and they don't bother coming after me. I cry to myself in some forgotten corner. "I'm a monster, aren't I?"

No one could have heard me unless they walked into the room. Which Ayano-chan did. She walked up to me and crouched down. She's gripping a flyer and shows it to me. It's a picture of a hero in red. "That's not true! Red is the color of a hero!"

Her statement does cheer me up somewhat, and I ask quietly if I could keep the flyer, but like a flash she's run off to go cheer up Kido and Kano. I sit there with the flyer in my hands, thinking about her words.

The next day, she motions for us to pay attention. She wraps a red muffler around her neck. "If you guys want, we'll make our own secret brigade!"

Kano and Kido are surprised, and I stare dumbly at both the poster and Ayano with my jaw hanging open. Well, she got our attention and now we were genuinely interested.

She gave us each a hoodie, mine simply plain white. Then we cheer each other up and play around with fake missions.

At the end of the day, Ayano holds a finger to her lips. "This is a secret, just between us, all right?" We all agree.

And from that day forth, Ayano became my hero.

* * *

"Um...hello...?" My quiet voice rings out in the forest. My whole body aches from the dangers (to count more notable ones, bees and pitfall traps) that the forest seemed to have held. Right now, however, I'm standing in front of a worn-down cream-colored house, with a leaf on my head and looking completely lost.

Someone inside is doing something, because I hear a thump inside. I rub the back of my head nervously. "Hello? Hello!"

The voices are there and gone, but I hear her thoughts. "Anyone, please come. I'm so lonely."

The person inside doesn't respond, so I open the door. It's a young girl, as old as I am, with white hair and red eyes, like mine. I stare for a few seconds (a bit rude, but I don't know what else to do,) before she speaks, her hands covering her eyes.

"Even today, I had that dream again, where this world was crumbling apart." She muttered to herself before noticing me. "Ah! Don't look into my eyes, or I'll turn you into sone!"

Something felt familiar, and then a shot of courage jumps through my heart. My eyes, still burning red, look down at her before my whole body goes down, seated right next to her. I push her head up, and she looks at me with tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, I am ripped away into her place. An older version of Kido and Kano and a blond-haired girl are dead in a pile in the corner. The older version of me is telling this girl, Mary, to run. He's getting strangled by a black-haired boy with snakes.

There are two voices that knock on the mental wall I've built to protect myself from the other monstrous thoughts I hear. One says quietly "It's so hard..." while the other squeaks "I'm so scared..."

The courage that prevailed a moment ago returns, stronger than ever.

Then I blink, feeling a sense of cold as my unusual power goes into temporary hibernation. "Hey, it'll be alright!"

She looks at me as I hold both of her hands with both of mine. "But..."

I hug her. We were both alone in this world, and I guess we'd have to stick together. My iPod slips out and I take one earbud and put it in my ear. The other I loop into her ear. We both sit quietly as the music plays. A gentle breeze goes through the open window and silently shuts the door.

Her hair ripples. I sit there watching it, fascinated.

We talk about the outside world, my analogies of being a knight from a fairytale meant to save the princess finding their way into her heart.

Finally, she looks to be on the verge of tears again as I get up to leave. "Please don't go, Seto!"

I laugh. "I'll come back for you, my princess! But, as a token..." I take off my hoodie and wrap her in it, her startled face making me smile. "I promise I'll come back!"

* * *

I look deep into her red eyes on the moonlit bridge. We stare like that for a few moments before I lean in close. "Mary..."

She makes a bit of a noise in between a squeak and a "Yes!" and I can't help but laugh.

"And here is the happy ending." I kiss her.

Kano show up from nowhere. "This is going to Ene-chan for sure!"


	3. BONUS CHAPTER: Ayano Tateyama

**w00t w00t**

**happy birthday to me**

**have a chapter**

**-BinaryCode101**

* * *

"Ah, looks like they're all doing well." The perpetually-orange sky glares into my eyes, which are no longer so burning red. My smile seems hollow, just to me, although I suppose it's always been my quirk. To smile when everything seems surreal or wrong, to confront the darkness in our hearts with the happiness that we all have.

"Hm. So they are. You still have feelings for him, yes?" I look around my corner to find the tired medusa looking at me, joining me as we look out.

"Ah, Azami-sama, was it?" I greet her politely. She clicks her tongue, and with a "Tch!" she looks at the small mirrors scattered around the floor of the Kagerou Daze. The one she looks at shows a white-haired medusa, walking along with Kousuke-kun. I peer inquisitively (as she does) and we both blush a bit as they kiss at the bridge. Then I smile a little wider as Kousuke-kun, looking flustered, chases after Shuuya-kun.

"Are they your siblings?" Azami-sama asks. Even though she's at least a foot shorter than I am, I bow a little bit.

"Adopted, although I used to treat them like genuine siblings. Who is the other medusa?"

"One-fourth medusa. She's my great-granddaughter. I think her name is Mary. My daughter always went on about how kind she was." Azami-sama looks to me. "Speaking of which, she seems to be getting along with your mother."

I pull my scarf up a little. "Yeah. Maybe because they share that sense of motherhood. And somehow Hiyori-chan is my aunt… it seems so confusing now." There was no hiding the sense of confusion in my voice; in reality, I'm still quite confused about my family relationships.

Azami-sama nods and leaves, and I'm left alone as the giant mirror that's the floor of this prison switches to Shintaro-kun talking with two others that I recognize. It's been forever though. At least my dad didn't change them permanently.

* * *

I sort through the folders. No. No, this can't be happening. A small photo is attached of a small adult with a red ribbon in her jet-black hair in the lower corner of the scattered files. Next to the files are two headshots. Haruka-kun and Takane-chan. They've been experimented on, and Dad's probably killed them to get them into this strange "Kagerou Daze". He's so intent on getting Mom back that he would kill my own classmates as experiments.

I find the lab a few minutes later. Dad is feverishly scribbling down notes and sketches. To the right is Takane-chan's body. The smell of formaldehyde fills the air. In front of Dad is Haruka-kun's body, and in a tank near him is Konoha, his game character. Takane-chan told me about the characters that Haruka-kun had drawn, blushing and slightly flustered. Now that I think about it, the two were having so much fun before this all happened.

The snakes are surrounding the tanks, seeming genuinely intrigued at Dad's experiments. I lean closer as a medusa appears, seemingly out of nowhere. Her perpetually red eyes glare around, passing me on and settling impassively on Dad.

They make a small deal, my Dad's red eyes seemingly forcing him to communicate with the medusa. The room's shadows seem to be alive with red eyes, all snakes of some sort, writhing, squirming-

They finish. The medusa looks to the side with almost apathy, just like Shintaro-kun. Then she disappears the same way she came in. Dad starts to get up.

I run upstairs, to our superhero gang's room, the Mekakushi Dan. Of course Shuuya-kun would make up the name. Tsubomi-chan nearly hit him until Kousuke-kun suggested that it fit all of them well, because of their strange eyes. They reluctantly agreed, and of course I had become the leader for proposing the idea. Now, however, there were three teenagers greeting me with smiles. I pulled the edge of my muffler up to cover my slightly frowning mouth before smiling back. Kousuke-kun probably knows what happened, since he can read minds.

Of course, they would probably know everything. They will eventually.

* * *

I meet Shuuya-kun on the school roof. The medusa's portal to the Kagerou Daze sits open, a red slit just inside of the black void giving a glimpse of the endless desert.

Shuuya-kun is startled. Of course, I explain everything. Then he starts to tear up. Before I know it, he's wrapped his arms around me, and as I watch, he changes his appearance yet again.

"Nee-chan, please don't go. I..." His voice cracks. I hold him tight. It's painful to leave, but it was the same way when Mom died.

"Shuuya-kun, it's alright." I ruffle his hair. "I'm going on my own mission. From here, you have to move on with Tsubomi-chan and Kousuke-kun. You have to make your own destiny."

He steps back, tears streaming down his face. He prepares at the ground floor, his disguise kicking in and turning him into me.

"Are you sure, Nee-chan?" His voice echoes faintly and I nod. Then, as he lays down in his own graffiti blood stains, I jump.

* * *

I close my eyes as Takane-chan argues with Shintaro-kun and Haruka-kun tries to calm them down. They've moved on, remembering the pain of their losses and learning from their experiences.

I smile and lay down, closing my eyes but never falling asleep. The heat makes me tired. I barely move when Azami-sama comes back. A teenager, probably a boy, is following her, his dull black boots thumping into the sand with resignation.

I get up. Azami-sama is holding his hand. The boy looks startlingly similar to Konoha, with dull golden eyes and the same two dots. His choker is grey with dull yellow arrows, his grey shirt fitting on his black undershirt, and his black boots came with faded yellow arrows running down the sides. A pistol holster is strapped to his pants, but the gun is missing.

Azami-sama pushes him forwards. "Girl! I found you a friend. His name is Kuroha."

The teen, Kuroha-kun, sighs in apathy before Azami-sama walks off and I'm left alone with the strange teen. He looks at me with strange golden snaking eyes, scrutinizing my smiling face. I wrap my arms around his chest (my scarf is with Shintaro-kun; the reach could've come in handy here) and nuzzle my head into his chest.

"Hello, Kuroha-kun! I'm Tateyama Ayano, and it's very nice to meet you!" He looks at me with apathy, before pushing me away roughly and wandering off.

"Did I mention that he's about as annoying as the last black-clothed boy from Japan that I've met?" Azami-sama says, quickly going off. Well, the last person she met was Shintaro-kun, and since he took the snake and went off…

* * *

"Hey! Wake up. Seriously, how am I supposed to tutor you when you keep falling asleep!" Shintaro-kun's voice rings in my ears and I open my eyes. He's sitting next to me, one desk away from the sunlight. His eyes tell of one too many sleepless nights at the computer, and he clicks his tongue and points at my paper. I look down at the 58 on my paper. Did I fall asleep during his tutoring?

"Shintaro-kun!" Takane-chan's face pokes around the door while Haruka-kun bounds into the room. They're both pretty excited.

Shintaro-kun scowls before trying to get them to stay silent. I smile and chuckle. "Ah, let's go. I thought Haruka-kun and Takane-chan were taking us somewhere." Takane-chan starts blushing furiously and refuses to look Haruka-kun in the eyes, Haruka-kun looks absolutely confused and clueless, and Shintaro-kun is ribbing Takane-chan into a fight. I laugh.

This world can be cruel at times, but this is definitely one of its kinder moments.

* * *

"Kuroha-kun!" I approach, timidly. His eyes flicker to mine, just barely interested. He clicks his tongue, exactly the opposite of what Konoha or Haruka-kun would do.

"What do you want? I'm not interested in small talk." He glares at me from the corner of his eyes.

"I just wanted to know who you were. I mean, you'll still be seeing me since Azami-sama left you here with me." Another person's sobbing in the distance makes his hand twitch, like he's shooting a gun.

"You want to know who I am?" He seems genuinely surprised at my question, then he blushes. Almost like Takane-chan, except I've seen his psychopathic tendencies, so maybe Azami-sama was just getting him off her back.

"Well, you don't talk much. And you kind of tried to murder my adopted siblings, my crush, and my two friends." I say. He looks down, sill blushing. The blush fades as his dull yellow eyes look back into mine.

"I used to be a snake. The ones that give powers to ordinary mortals. Specifically, I used to be the gatekeeper. Then your father's snake planned with me to merge the Kagerou Daze and the real world together, using that boy, Kokonose Haruka, as my host. Of course, that would mean killing all of your friends. Obviously, that didn't work out, however. Because of that boy, Kisaragi Shintaro, the plan failed. And of course, I lost temporary power. Then I got sent back here, and that's the story." He shakes his head as he grabs for an imaginary pistol.

"The gatekeeper snake?" I question. "Was it fun? Were there any people you were interested in?"

Kuroha-kun looks off into the distance, probably trying to remember. "Let's see, there was a young green-haired girl and another older girl that didn't look anything like her. There was a young boy, brown-eyed, holding a dog, a young cat-eyed boy and his mother, and Miss Azami's daughter and granddaughter. The boy and girl from the truck incident, Kokonose and a white-haired boy that looked like him, a tired-looking girl and her blue floating counterpart, and a little orange-haired girl and her dad. A scientist and his wife, I think that was your father. And of course you, and that boy you like." I blink. I knew all of those people, whether or not I knew them or heard about them. "And no. It was not fun. Most of these people who are trapped refuse to come out. These sniveling pieces of scum give up so easily, and they refuse to go back to their loved ones. They honestly don't believe there's a way out." His pupils start shrinking, turning ever-so-slowly into snake pupils.

I think as he internally debates with himself before one of the mirrors echoes with a gunshot and we both turn to look at the scene.

* * *

It's not this happy end, as a matter of fact it's the complete opposite. Kuroha-kun is smiling, he's just shot Shuuya-kun in the forehead and the scene is so slowed down as we watch that the bullet takes seconds, even longer, to come out of the other side. He goes down.

Kousuke-kun runs, tries to tackle, gets shot in the stomach as Tsubomi-chan checks Shuuya-kun, who is very likely dead. Shintaro-kun and his sister and Mary-chan watch as bad things keep happening. Kuroha-kun grabs Kousuke-kun by the hair and shoots him through the mouth. Tsubomi-chan starts crying.

Kuroha-kun puts a hand up to his face, letting it come down to reveal his manic smile and tiny snake pupils. He shoots Tsubomi-chan through the head before turning to the three remaining humans.

Shintaro-kun's phone goes off. Ene, the virus version of Takane-chan, is shown on Shintaro-kun's phone. Kuroha-kun grabs the phone out of his pocket and Shintaro-kun is forced to watch as his phone gets crushed. Then he gets shot and goes down.

Mary-chan is crying and cries even harder as Shintaro-kun's sister goes down. Then Kuroha-kun extends his hand and hisses. "I found you, my queen."

* * *

I turn to look at Kuroha-kun, and he turns to look at me. "Well..."

He shrugs. "I was following the plan at that point. What more can I say?"

Over the next few years, we grow used to each other. I tell him of all the fun times I've had, he tells me practical things and stories of 200 years ago. Azami-sama occasionally checks up on us and at one point suggested "Just get on with it! Fulfill your stupid mortal romantic fantasies!" before all three of us laughing.

To be honest, Kuroha-kun is just tired of the world from what I'm hearing. He doesn't want to go out, and would rather stay here. I'm glad to keep him company, although it's quite boring here in the Daze.

One time, Kuroha-kun found me folding a paper crane. Paper is in no short supply in the Kagerou Daze; if you can think of something and are sufficiently bored, the Daze makes it for you.

"What's that?" He asked, poking the head of the crane.

"It's a paper crane. I used to fold these a lot back in the real world." I place it on top of the mirror floor and suddenly the scene changes around us, becoming an all-too-familiar rooftop.

"Huh? Where are we?" I get up from sitting and find myself transparent. Beside me, Kuroha-kun gets up.

"Judging from this, I'd say we're in the real world again. And for quite a while, too. Maybe we can observe your friends and siblings. See what they've been up to." He offers his hand and I take it, and we both run down the stairs of the school and out.

The Mekakushi Dan's headquarters, Apartment 107, is surprisingly quiet. Kuroha-kun and I phase through the door and find a tired Shuuya-kun lying on the couch. I walk towards him.

"Shuuya-kun!" He bolts awake, glancing around frantically.

"Nee-chan? Nee-chan!" I hug him from behind and he stops.

"Don't forget, Shuuya-kun. I want you to be happy. Please, smile once in a while, and remember to stay in touch." Kuroha-kun points towards the door and we leave, while Shuuya-kun collapses onto the couch again.

We find Tsubomi-chan hiding in a relatively close alley, and I say my words too.

"Tsubomi-chan, don't forget about your brothers. They need your help as much as you need theirs, and don't forget about the apartment. It's your home as much as our old brick house was." I part after a hug.

We leave Kousuke-kun and Mary-chan alone. They're on a private date through the forest. However, Kuroha-kun and I leave note for the two so they can read it when they come back.

Shintaro-kun sits at his computer. Kuroha-kun left to write notes for his sister and the boy from the truck incident, so I have some time alone with my crush.

"Shintaro-kun." I will myself as much as possible and get close to semi-transparent. Good enough, I suppose. "Shintaro-kun!"

He swivels to face me. Then he stops, tears in his eyes. He rushes to hug me but fails, instead phasing right through.

"I'm sorry for leaving, Shintaro-kun. How are you doing?" We talk for a bit, Shintaro-kun confesses his feelings and I do too, even though it's not of much use.

"Shintaro-kun, I have to go." He looks at me, a sad look suddenly shaping itself on his face. "No one stays forever, Shintaro-kun. Stay with your friends, don't forget, move on. You make yourself stronger from the wounds by moving on. Don't worry. I promise you'll be fine." I hug him and his hands rest on my back. Then I leave, Kuroha-kun meets me at the door, and we go to find one more pair.

* * *

"Haruka~!" Takane-chan's voice still hasn't changed over the years. She's wearing one of the outfits Haruka had drawn, one for her character in their video game, like Konoha. Her headphones hang around her neck, and she runs down the hill to meet Haruka-kun. Kuroha-kun sighs before following, and I float along.

Haruka-kun has brown hair now, and the dots from when he was Konoha, just black. He's wearing the same outfit from before this crazy mess happened, and he's holding a orange and black sketchbook. He's in the middle of drawing a landscape, the apartment, and has several figures sketched in.

We split up. Kuroha-kun goes to talk to Haruka-kun while I leisurely float over to Takane-chan.

"Takane-chan!" I will myself into partial being again. "How are you doing?"

"Ayano?" Her hand passes through me before I nod. "Is this really you?"

We talk for much longer. Takane-chan and Haruka-kun are dating, Shintaro's still alone, the Dan haven't met yet but the meeting is coming earlier this year. She even tells me a little of what it was like being a program; it sounds exciting to mess around with people's computers but I think Takane-chan fits the role better than I do.

Finally, it's almost time to return back to the Daze. The sunset dominates the sky as both Kuroha-kun and I return to the school building. It's hard to believe it's only been an hour, but time flies fast when you have to say goodbye.

"Do you think we'll get another chance?" I ask the quiet ash-colored teen.

"If we do, it better be when they meet. I think we'd surprise them pretty well." He smiles, for once not looking hostile. He's like Takane-chan, kind when you get to know him. I lean closer to him.

The surroundings fade back into the familiar sunset of the Kagerou Daze as we kiss.


End file.
